The bloody PAP government could help increase births rates by abolishing reservists. This would give more family time and time for setting and consideration for a family. If the singaporean mens' time are spent on 2-2 1/2 NS plus reservists till fucking 40 years old, you're robbing them of time and youth. Why the fuck serve reservist huh? We in a fucking war is it? NS is enough.

Talent;good ideas;empathy; problem solving skills- they have all deserted the PAP 15 years ago.

What has PAP got? 2nd rate talent;yes-men;cantankerous arrogant men;men who is totally out of touch with the ground. Inbreeding is one of the major causes of these; So what if they have excellent academic results..proof: MBT.

agree with anon @ 22.21so far the generals and admirals serving the familee are scholars with excellent academic results.even HoChing was a president scholar and the pussy PM from first batch of SAF scholars.

but do any of the above scholars excel in sports at national level, captain their respective team ?

have you guys wondered about those with great academic results but on PM ( Pa, Ma )scholarship and somehow were also good sportsmen. any of them join the PAP ?

So maybe the answer is to ride the Tiger ( of our artificially overinflated property assets ) , enjoy its rediculous price by cashing out , abandon all setimental notion of nationalism, loyalty to country & replace it with a selfish sence of survival & loyalty to yourself & family ......& get out . Our forefathers were pioneers that made the sacrifice for us so maybe now its our turn , for our children.Singapore has become like a public toilet of sorts for the world to come & go, to play , to make money , do their laundery....Yes it has some good things for Singies, but at what cost.What Rubbish the debate on stayers or quitters , loyalty or that we Stay & PAP to get out ? Why should the elite ruling class & clans & families quit while they are ahead ( & they have always been ), if they get to continue creaming off the middle class & beyond . Moreover most proverbial singaporean frogs are selfish to begin with anyways. Selfish for staying in their comfort zone however hot that boiling water has become and will thus condemn their children to the same fate under this regime.Singaporeans are prisoners in their own homeland , a captured market brainwashed to the hilt . Deers frozen in the headlights of an oncoming train. Generations of slaves paying all sorts of hidden taxes like CPF , Inflation, Carbon Tax , OMV , COE , GST , PETROL TAX , LEVIES of all sorts & what do we get in return ?

One way or another, we're being kidnapped by the high housing prices. If the government really wants to do something to bring down prices to real affordable level to the masses, for sure there will be lots of protests as this will affect the prices of their existing houses. Just you see how people react when there are plans to put up healthcare centers for the old folks nearby - you see lots of protests. The main reason is they are worried that this will affect their house prices.

LKY has done it again, trying to use TFR as an excuse to shift the blame n responsibility for mass importing of foreigners to the citizens.

But think about it, even if we achieve TFR of 2.0, it merely maintain the population level, but the PAP government's plan is to achieve a population of 6 to 7 millions, so the mass importing of foreigners has nothing to do with low TFR.

It has everything to do with PAP's inability to sustain economic growth without grow in labour resource, and in desperation to remain in power .

When Singaporeans protest about immigration policies, did that stop the immigration?No! No! No!

So what makes you think protest is stopping the government from building the old age facilities in void decks?The HDB flats & void decks belongs to HDB.The government can suka, suka build anything they want in the void deck, anytime they want.

They don't really want to build the old age facilities. Or any social services for that matter.But cannot say so.Hence they are doing the wayang.And blaming Singaporeans as usual.

DPM Teo knows how to ask Employers to take the lead, why don't they take the lead? Look at how Sweden pays up to 65% of the absent-parent salaries so both their gender workforce can truly balance work/life/balance. To force every monetary and social decision on the shoulders of citizens are simply cowardly. They just want their cake and eat it!

For a start, I can already propose the following :

- Govt approach ALL the nordic/scandinavian companies based in Singapore to practice and adopt what they do in their home turf. If they are forthcoming, then the rest of the employers can hopefully step in further. The govt can give more generous tax break for example to encourage these companies.

- Subsequently, this opens up a whole new contract/part-time markets for maternity & working women and this will encourage more semi-retired/stayhome mum to get back into the work rotation. That is a win/win.

- But don't just think inside the box, and restrict raising children to married couples. How many matured single women who are professional/financial means to let them adopt or IVF if they so wish. This number are not small, and to hell with conventional views. If they would give this group more support, I am sure there will be takers.

- If you're prepared to bring in coastal migrants from china/india or developing nations, why don't you help our fellow low income families by giving them more support. To hell with the old outdated thinking that poor parents breed poor kids. How do you explain those 3rd world countries poor migrants whom you have no hesitation to bring in with red carpets rolled out to them?!

- Stop arguing for Growth-vs-No-growth proposal. People are fed up with this false dichotomy. IS a question whether this Govt is prepared to have 3 or 9 millions population, and I ask them to choose!! Which is it going to be? Your answer is as good as mine!

The problem with singaporeans is they want to change the ruling party but at the same time they do not want to see their HDB prices go down. PAP has successfully enslaved them to a piece of temporary worthless asset.

we are unique in this world. there is only one singapore... so pls dun compare sg with other country on such issues, including ministars salary..

on the other hand, when we need to compare, we shld compare ourselves with other countries on issues where other ppl are lousier than sg! like mrt trains, security, crime, corruption etc etc.. oh corruption on the rise ah, opps..

"I would be happy to answer them but I noticed Lucky Tan avoided answering whether he thinks, and he is a qualified lawyer, whether home prices suggest that singaporeans are more well-off today and they are enjoying their 5Cs and making selfish decisions on not to have more babies. Could I have an answer?

Let’s look at the points that Lucky Tan makes. The motive: in each of the countries pointed out, there was a different circumstance – to not identify your own self. In each of those countries, Lucky Tan will accept, on the face of it, it wasn’t a housing price simpliciter. One case was different region, there were other cases where there was different culture. So in all these, the motive is to avoid one’s identity, so that’s neither here nor there.

As regards the fact that here there were two countries, if Lucky tan looks at the cases he's cited, these were situations where there has been more than one factor. So in that context, I ask her for the third time whether he is willing to answer, and he is capable of answering as a lawyer. All those factors he has identified are present in some of those countries. Can Lucky Tan identify a single country where on such circumstance, home prices has affected fertility rates? One country?

These questions are entirely capable of being answered, including the very last question I asked. If there is a country Lucky Tan knows, where on similar circumstances, home prices affect fertility rates, no cultural difference, the underlying factor is housing price simpliciter, no genetic difference, no regional difference, nothing else. housing price simpliciter, with a low fertility rate. Let me know if there is a country where some country suffered low fertility rate.

finally, I am glad to note that no allegations are being made against the govt, and that it is not being suggested in any way that govt made a wrong choice or a false choice in choosing to allow home prices to escalate. But the context of the questions certainly implicitly raised that possibility and because it is a serious possibility, I had to deal with it openly. That is what this House is for. But, I welcome Lucky Tan’s suggestion. I take it wholeheartedly, and I am happy to hear that no allegation whatsoever is being made against the govt, so we can all at least move on, on the basis that they exercise their discretion properly."

Your conclusion could be misleading. By introducing another factor, Free Education and Healthcare, I get the conclusion that Home Price relative to Income is actually not significant at 95% confidence level. The formula is:Fertility Rate = 1.56 +0.5 FreeEdc - 0.02 HomePriceFree education and healthcare is more important than home price relative to income ratio.See http://mind-value.blogspot.sg/2012/08/fooling-ourselves-and-others-with-stats.html